1. Field
The field of the invention is sleds for use by cross country skiers to haul food, gear, clothing and the like.
2. State of the Art
Cross country skis are used for wintertime hikes of several hours and sometimes overnight duration. This requires considerable camping gear, clothing and food in quantities too unwieldy for comfortable backpack transport. Heavily loaded backpacks, located high upon the skier's body, create severe balance problems. The load carried by the skis is increased, causing them to sink deeply into the snow, and the skier is subjected to exhausting physical effort. Increased difficulties in maneuvering in and out of trees and across snow covered slopes does much to reduce the attractiveness of the sport. The clear need for gear transport in some manner other than by backpack has prompted many sled designs. Although relieved of burdensome weight, the skier using a sled encounters vexing sled control problems. Towed sleds tend strongly to gravitate downhill regardless of the path desired by the skier, which may be uphill or across slopes as well as on the level. The downhill drift of the sled encounters obstructions, for example, when the skier wishes to travel through trees or among outcropping rocks. The sled, and associated towing harness, must permit the skier to accurately tow the sled along the path of his choice. While many cross country ski designs have been proposed, none appear to be effectively designed for accurate tracking characteristics. Many appear to recognize the problem, but do not present effective solutions. U.S. Pat. No. 3,222,080 discloses a sled body having attached longitudinal runners extending downward from its bottom member. The runners have flat horizontal bottom surfaces and are symmetrical, and apparently do not anticipate in their design any resistance to lateral sled motion to prevent sidewise downhill sliding. U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,437 provides functionally similar bottom attached parallel runners upon a sled. U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,984 provides narrow runners at the sides of the bottom of a sled, each with an inwardly facing vertical side. With this sled bottom configuration, lateral sliding quickly causes the space between the runners to fill with snow, virtually destroying any resistance to side slip.
The principal shortcomings of all of these disclosed sled designs is failure to provide runners which selectively resist sidewise sliding of the sled down slopes being traversed. None appear to take lessons from the skiers themselves, who utilize the edges of downhill skis to hold traversing paths across the slopes.
Similarly, prior art harnesses do not provide the skier with effective control of the sled. The towing harnesses must be laterally rigid to enable the skier to resist sled sideslip. Limber rope or strap harness pulling devices are not satisfactory. Some prior art sleds provide for rigid harnesses. U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,577 discloses rigid, vertically pivoted arms, albeit designed for snowmobile towed sleds. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,714 is disclosed a rigid harness of metallic tubing connecting the belt of the skier with the leading edge of a sled. Two side members are pivotally secured along a common axis to the front of the sled and to a belt encircling the torso or waist of the skier. The towing harness is however made substantially rigid and unitary by a cross member between elongate side members near the skier, and further by a connecting cross member provided at the pivot. This unitary construction eliminates twisting flexibility between the skier and the sled, without which sled control is seriously impaired.
Practical, enjoyable, cross country ski sledding further requires easy storage of the gear upon the sled, preferably within a container which is itself removable from the sled. The prior art appears to include no such sled-duffel container combinations, so that the transport of duffel remains associated with spilling and loss.
A need for a cross country ski sled with associated harness, which is easily towed and controlled by the skier continues to exist. A further need is for a sled-duffel container combination which may be safely and efficiently used.